From the mind to substance

Winter

I can remember it as if it happened yesterday. Two days ago I was going to a local Starbucks for my early evening drink when I felt the wind cut through my coat stabbing me with a painful cold gash in my torso. The pain went straight into my bones and for a moment I stopped and grimaced at how brutal Winter had become. Sure it was December and being that I live in Ohio I should expect Winter to be cold but it was now much more than that. When and why did Winter decide to act so harshly to me? I had not betrayed the season, ask anyone who really knows me and they will tell you that I always looked forward to Winter appearing and bring with him the cold, snow, and winds. I looked forward to it every year; in fact it was the time of year I did the most outdoor activities. I enjoyed sitting outside sipping a cup of hot coffee while reading or just appreciating the scenes of Winter finally arriving.

Not anymore, because Winter has decided to no longer wrap me in its cold embrace but instead to take swipes at me and or pummel me. It seems I can not wear enough layers of clothes to now protect me from Winter’s change of heart toward me. Why the change of heart? Is it because I now own a snow blower? Is it because I now have a fireplace in our living room that I enjoy having large fires producing warmth and the pleasant aroma of burning hardwoods? Is it because I am over forty and Winter is prejudiced towards what he considers old people?

Winter has become a bully to me and many others but I will not be a fair-weather friend. I will still enjoy watching it snow, seeing the white flakes fall from the sky forming a blanket across the earth, homes, cars, and anything else that is outside. I will continue to appreciate the beauty of its complete white blanket a top untraveled land. But I will now have to do enjoy this from a chair in front of the fireplace while sipping my coffee.